


The Emoji Movie 2: Where Angels Fear to Tread

by All_memes_all_the_time



Category: The Emoji Movie (2017)
Genre: Alex (The Emoji Movie) - Freeform, Angst and Drama, Angst and Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gene (The Emoji Movie) - Freeform, Heavy Angst, Help, Hi-Five (The Emoji Movie) - Freeform, I mean the whole damn internet, I'm Sorry, Internet, It's the internet, Jailbreak (The Emoji Movie) - Freeform, Memes, Mentions of political incorrectness, Pepe is there for some reason, Revenge, Sad, Weird Biology, Weird Plot Shit, What am I doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29471265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_memes_all_the_time/pseuds/All_memes_all_the_time
Summary: Shortly after the events of the Emoji Movie, Gene goes to see the dying Smiler one last time. But when her oath of revenge triggers an apocalyptic war, Gene must embark on a journey to the dark corners of the Internet to enlist allies and discover what it truly means to express emotion. The fate of Textopolis hangs in the balance, and as Smiler taps into the lifeblood of the Internet to resurrect her former empire, Gene confronts Jailbreak's dark past and his own tangled legacy.War is no time for mercy. Gene must stop Smiler, or die trying.
Relationships: Gene/Jailbreak (The Emoji Movie)
Kudos: 2





	The Emoji Movie 2: Where Angels Fear to Tread

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I saw this stupid godforsaken abomination of a movie.  
> No, I did not enjoy it.

**_I met a traveler from an antique land_ **

**_Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone_ **

He walked down the chilly hallway, trying to sort out the tangled feelings running through his mind. Happiness. Sadness. Fear. Regret. Loss. Anger. Shame. It didn’t matter which one he showed. Every single one of them clamored for attention, blending into a howling storm that crushed him to the ground.

Gene stopped and leaned against the stained wall, squeezing his eyes shut. It wasn’t the first time he had felt overwhelmed and he knew it wouldn’t be the last.

_ Just be yourself _ , Jailbreak had told him.

It wasn’t that easy. It never had been. Even now, after the other emojis had welcomed his glitched programming with open arms, hiding was still second nature to him. He’d thought it would feel liberating to throw off the mask he had worn for so long, but it was the exact opposite. Gene had never felt so trapped and alone, stripped of any pretense he had made to fit in. His newfound freedom only served as a daily reminder that he was not like the other emojis, nor would he ever be.

There would be no one like him, nor would there ever be.

There was no one he could relate to, nor would there ever be.

The fluorescent lights flickered over his head, lending a dull shine to the old linoleum floor. Gene took a deep breath and continued on down towards the room at the end of the hall. Hi-5 had enthusiastically insisted that it was a bad idea, but Gene knew it was the only way.

He would speak to Smiler again. One last time, for the closure.

It was late at night and he hoped that the other retired emojis had gone to sleep. Getting some privacy in Textopolis was practically impossible, but Gene didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of bringing the smiley emoji to another app. She had always been devious behind her gleaming grin. Defeat had only made her more dangerous.

**_Stand in the desert… near them, on the sand_ **

**_Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown_ **

A single bare lightbulb hung over a tiny table and some folding chairs. Gene carefully pushed open the bead curtain and peered inside. The “Loser Lounge,” as Smiler had dubbed it, was the size of a large closet and crammed with other pieces of cheap furniture. Bare bookshelves, ratty sofas, and old computer monitors took up most of the wall space. A poorly stocked bar was hiding in the corner. Gene wondered how it could fit even one emoji.

The room was empty aside from Disco Ball, who was snoring away on the ceiling. Gene figured it would know where Smiler was, but he didn’t want to wake it up. He stepped carefully over the creaking floorboards and tiptoed around a plywood partition that blocked most of the light. Lumpy shapes wrapped in blankets were scattered around the room. Gene picked out the silhouettes of Fishcake, Cactus, and Luggage, but none of the others were round expression emojis. He slipped out of the back room and peered around the Lounge again, hoping to see someone he’d missed.

This time, he found her.

She was sitting at the bar, half hidden behind a folding table propped against the wall. One hand held a whisky tumbler, and the other was obsessively running through her bangs. Her long blond hair was ratty and tangled. Gene couldn’t see her face, but he braced himself for the worst. Smiler had always been one of the most popular emojis. Only a true disaster would have forced her into such early retirement.

Disco Ball was probably going to wake up, as well as all the other old emojis, but Gene figured that privacy had been too much to hope for. He took one last deep breath to clear his mind, then slowly walked up to the bar and touched her shoulder.

“I’m fine, Fishcake. Go away.” Her voice seemed oddly garbled and strained, but she didn’t turn around.

“Smiler, it’s me. Gene.”

**_And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,_ **

**_Tell that its sculptor well those passions read_ **

Smiler’s hand on the tumbler clenched at the mention of his name. The glass exploded in a shower of shards.

Gene shied back as she swept the broken remains onto the floor and turned to face him.

He had expected her face to be ruined, but not like this. A set of metal braces attached to headgear were the only things holding the splintered stumps of her teeth in place. Thick ropes of twisted grey scars mangled her lips, and a maniacal lopsided grimace now glittered in the harsh light. Gene’s heart nearly stopped in terror. For the first time, Smiler truly resembled the monster that she was.

“You,” the emoji hissed at him. Pixelated black blood dripped from her hand and pooled on the bar, but she didn’t even bother to wipe it away. “How dare you come here? Haven’t you done enough?”

Gene’s planned speech flew out of his head in an instant. He struggled for words, looking into Smiler’s destroyed face and hollow eyes. Part of him had wanted her to still be her old self, haughty and perfect, with the madness carefully hidden under a vapid smile. But the creature before him had fully embraced the darkness to the point where it was all she had.

“I’m… sorry,” Gene said weakly. “I had no idea—”

“Pity!” Smiler threw back her head and let out a screech of crazed laughter. “I don’t need your pity. Got plenty of it myself, right here. You’re wasting your time.”

What could he say now, to a face like this? Words had nothing to offer someone who had long since struck rock bottom.

“How’d you know I was here?” Smiler grabbed a dingy towel from the end of the bar and wrapped it around her bleeding hand. “Who told you?”

Hi-5 had told him about Smiler’s punishment for altering her bots, but Gene figured he was the last emoji that Smiler wanted to hear about, given that the state of her face was entirely Hi-5’s fault. He tried to think of a way to explain himself without implicating the other emoji.

“Well, you just… disappeared after the, uh… you know.” Gene fumbled for a way to reference their fight in the Text Center without bringing up too many painful memories for both of them. “I just figured… after they put Princess in charge… that you might be here.”

“Princess.” Smiler spat on the grungy floor through her wired jaw. “That bitch. Been waiting in the wings to replace me since day one. They’re all bitches. That whole shallow bitch family has it coming.”

Gene hesitated. The accusation wasn’t entirely untrue, but admitting that would only make her angrier and he didn’t want to push the matter.

“Well, Jailbreak’s not a bitch. She tried to help you, remember?” Gene tried not to get too defensive, but it was a reflex. The ex-Princess had been nothing but kind to him.

“JAILBREAK?” Smiler’s yell set off a chorus of angry mumbling from the surrounding emojis. “ _JAILBREAK! As if!_ Let me tell you a little something, Gene. What do you really know about Jailbreak leaving Textopolis?”

**_Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,_ **

**_The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:_ **

“She told me… she was just tired of being stereotyped. You know how Princesses are.” Gene tried to make it sound playful, but Smiler’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. She shook her head condescendingly.

“You’re a fool for believing her. A bigger fool for loving her.”

**_And on the pedestal, these words appear:_ **

__

“Listen to me, and listen well.” Smiler’s bloody hand shot out and wrapped around Gene’s throat. He choked for air, flailing desperately, but the crazed emoji was far stronger than he was.

_ ‘ **My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:** _

__

“I do not forgive.”

**_Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’_ **

****

“I do not forget.”

“I didn’t mean to say-” Gene croaked, but Smiler’s grip slowly tightened, cutting off his words. Two black dots appeared in his vision.

“The next time we meet, I will be a queen again.” Smiler’s bottomless eyes were all Gene could see. “More than a queen. A goddess. Death will not end me. I will have my revenge on you, your little freak family, and every last one of you who thought you could replace me,” Smiler whispered. “I will shatter your world to pieces and burn what remains; that is my promise! Take it, and go.”

She released him, and Gene fell back, coughing. He wiped his face and staggered to his feet, wondering what had gotten into her. Smiler, once so perfect, so in control. Where had this come from? Or, Gene realized with a thrill of fear, had this always been there? Stripped of her mask, all pretenses laid bare, was this who she truly was?

He struggled to the door of the Loser Lounge, not daring to look back. Gene’s back prickled with terror. Any moment, he might feel her cold hands, slick with blood, around his neck again-

“You okay there, Gene?” Discoball whispered. “You’re looking a little blue.”

“I’m fine,” Gene muttered. “Keep an eye on that one by the bar.”

“Oh she’s not right, I’m telling you.” Discoball side-eyed Smiler’s backlit silhouette. “Hasn’t been right since that bot took her teeth out. Probably rattled her cage a little.”

“More than rattled.” Gene rubbed his neck and headed for the door. A handprint-shaped bruise was starting to form. “I’ll see you around, Disco.”

“You won’t,” Discoball said sleepily. “But it’s okay.”

**_Nothing beside remains. Round the decay_ **

**_Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare_ **

**_The lone and level sands stretch far away._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Just euthanize me dude


End file.
